"Luuuuuuuuke, I crocheted your father..." was possibly what crafty crochet wizard Lucy Ravenscar uttered as she finally completed her excruciatingly cute Star Wars set. She'd be perfectly within her rights to break into an Ewok Celebration too as they're Death-Star-explodingly fantastic.
Lucy's creations make me suspect that she may have trained for many years on the swamp planet of Dagobah with some manner of hook-handling Yoda. Her Vader is dark and sweetly forbidding, her Ewok sports his hood at the perfect jaunty angle, her Chewie has his own man bag for keeping his stash of wookie essentials in, and her Han Solo has just the right amount of Devil May Care about his crocheted person.
You can buy the patterns for the characters individually from her Esty store or go wild and buy the whole set of patterns in one go.
May the force be with you and your crochet hook, Ms Ravenscar. Keep up the good work.
Debbie Stoller's Stitch and Bitch is the book that launched a million knitters. There are very few people with sticks and string who aren't aware of the book and its follow on Stitch and Bitch Nation and Son of Stitch and Bitch. So when Ms Stoller does something people take notice.
Recently Debbie released Stitch Nation, her own brand of yarn. The knitting world is abuzz once more. She teamed up with Red Heart Yarn to make a range that is "100% natural and 100% affordable".
It comes three types Full o' Sheep (Peruvian wool single ply), Bamboo Ewe (bamboo and wool) and Alpaca Love (80% Wool, 20% Alpaca) and the colours are fresh, zingy and varied.
The site also features a few free patterns to get your started on your Stitch Nation stitching.
Stitch Nation is only available in the US at the moment. Here's hoping it comes to the UK soon.
Is there nothing that the wonder of Lego cannot do? Those clever folks at Portland's Twisted yarn store have married the crafty beasts of Lego and yarn to create a robotic wool-slinging wonder: the Lego ball winder.
Witness as it spins and spins. Never again will those with access to bricks, a motor and a little ingenuity have to wind our own balls of yarn. Sit back and relax with a nice slice of battenburg and a cuppa as your Lego friend teams up with a yarn swift to do all your winding for you.
See the video of the winder here with a rather blurry preview of its first incarnation also available.
After it's done winding you can build yourself a Lego Godzilla and rain Lego lizard death and destruction on a carefully constructed Lego village too. Legotastic.
Who doesn't love a bit of kooky crochet? Well whoever you are turn away now because Knot By Gran'ma has kooky crochet by the stashload, with free patterns to boot.
She makes painfully cute and often slightly unsettling weird but wicked wool-based beasts. Her creations include wailing ghosties, a disgruntled green frog, and bizarre fibre-freakshow people such as Jen the Tri-Headed Cheerleader. Her Etsy shop offers patterns and the option to buy some of her more complicated finished products.
There are also free pattens for you to try. Check out the boundless joy on the crocheted face of Johnny Heart and the rock-star fun fur of her Baby Bootie Socks.
Her blog offers links to useful crochet sites too. Encouragement for even the most unsure of happy hookers to get their own crochet creatures on the hook.
Yarnstorming, the less-violent and more eco-friendly name for knitting graffiti, sees the bar raised again as hooking hero Howie Woo storms Vancouver and cheers up some rather damp Vancouverites with his Stringing in the rain yarnstorm.
Howie, whose Woo Work website is a treasure trove of crochet gold, chose to yarnstorm the Davie Village Community Garden. The site was yarnstormed last summer by Jessica Glesby, and his theme was his pride in the Vancouver rain and his fine city.
You can see more photos and a video of the yarnstorm on Howie's blog.
Howie also gives a nod to rainy day stitchers and UK yarnstorming pioneers Knit the City in his comments too. All yarnstorming being one under the cloudy sky. It's no longer about wrapping bits of the city in yarn. Stories and statements in stitching are taking things to a new level.
Fourteen fabulous raindrop cats and dogs, which each took about four hours to make, now dangle from above as rainswept pedestrains sweep by. Leaving them with a smile and Howie with the honour of bringing woolly sunshine to the city.
I've been teaching knitting now for four years and I would say it's a brave person who takes on teaching craft to anyone. There's always the chance your learner will fall off the craft ladder and end up frustrated and growly at their inability to pick up the craft immediately. Encouragement and the reminder that practice makes perfect often helps but it takes a cool head to teach.
Which is why this piece in the Financial Times on teaching crochet to prisoners is a fascinating read.
Journalist Melanie Tringham talks to crochet teacher Eva Christopherson in Wisconsin Racine Correctional Institution, a medium-security male prison. The inmates learn to crochet hats, scarves and gloves and sew teddy bears together for the local church and children's charity.
According to Eva the craft creates self-esteem as well as keeping them busy. A real insight into how craft is more than just glitter and glue. But you knew that.
Read the full story here.
"Mmm hook you a home I will!" may possibly have been the very thought that was going through the head of current contender for the Geek Craft throne, Jatoha, who has used her awesome crochet hook powers (and possibly 'the Force' as well) to create a little handmade hut for her daughter's Yoda figurine.
The Yoda hut, complete with gnarled tree roots draped across the roof, was improvised by the crafter with a flap at the back so it can be used in a doll's-house style. It certainly looks like a cosy home for your plastic heroes, with a little light inside to give it that log-fire and meditation glow.
She's quick to point out that "It is NOT a dollhouse, it's for ACTION FIGURES, not dolls!!". Which is probably best as you really shouldn't go around calling anyone wielding a lightsaber a doll.
Unless you want to get your hand chopped off.
digg this |
del.icio.us this
| 
Stumble It!
